1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of “green” biosynthesis of noble metal nanoparticles using dead cancer cells as a reducing agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nanotechnology is emerging as a rapidly growing field primarily for manufacturing new materials at the nanoscale level. Nanoparticles exhibit completely new or improved properties compared to their corresponding bulk materials. Because of their size, catalytic property, ability to deliver drug, increased efficacy, and decreased toxicity, nanotechnology finds applications in various fields including healthcare, defense and day-to-day life. Because the nanoparticles possess a very high surface to volume ratio, they are particularly useful in applications where high surface areas are critical for success.
Nanomaterials are typically synthesized by heat evaporation, non-sputtering, solvothermal reduction, electrochemical technique, chemical reduction, photochemical, reverse micelles, thermal decomposition, radiation assisted methods, electrochemical methods, or sonochemical methods including microwave assisted method. However, in the past two decades, synthesis of metal nanoparticles using microorganisms has received great interest. The microorganisms can be used as possible “nanofactories” for development of clean, nontoxic and environmentally friendly methods for producing nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are biosynthesized when the microorganisms grab target ions from their environment and then turn the metal ions into the elemental metal through enzymes generated by the cell activities. It can be intracellular and extracellular synthesis according to the location where nanoparticles are formed. The extracellular synthesis of nanoparticles involves trapping the metal ions on the surface of the cells and reducing them in the presence of enzymes. In intracellular synthesis, ions are transported into the microbial cell to form nanoparticles in the presence of enzymes. The biosynthesized nanoparticles have wide applications such as drug carriers for targeted delivery, cancer treatment, gene therapy, DNA analysis, antibacterial agents, biosensors, separation science, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Thus, a method of synthesizing noble metal nanoparticles utilizing cultured dead cancer cells thereby solving the aforementioned problems is desired.